This Saturday my Mum and I headed out to the shops to find some affordable treasures with which to transform my university bedroom. Our shelves at home are literally crammed with my mum's random collections of arty junk and a freakishly large collection of books on shabby chic decor. I'm a vintage girl by all accounts, but am a little over granny florals since redecorating my room in French country. I wanted something a bit more bright and bold but still junk-style and rustic. The great thing about junk style is its cheap and easy to source! all you need is a sprinkling of imagination, an eye for the unconventional and a wallet full of $2.00 coins...
On our way out of the door, we grabbed the Friday paper and flipped to the back section, where the garage sales for that Saturday morning were listed. The great thing about Kiwi ingenuity is that it lends itself to recycling- there is so much beautiful, quirky stuff out there, why waste time and resources manufacturing more? I picked up this beautiful hair slide from a Mexican family whose daughter had cut her hair. Rather than hoarding their stuff, they’d decided to pass it forward and move on. Their trash became my treasure.
We also hit up the recycling centre in search of old suitcases. My friend Francesca had this stroke of genius and had bought three suitcases a week earlier to use as storage drawers under her bed. I was trying to sniff out something similar, and by stroke of luck found a couple of tattered old leather briefcases just weathered and battered enough to catch my eye (my brother said they looked like one of Ron Weasely’s hand-me-downs). Inside they are divided into sections, perfect for using as a filing cabinet. I scored these for $4.00 each, and have my eye on a suitcase in an antique shop which is a little more pricey ($20.00) to match. I also found this bronze vase for $3.00! I love the aged patina on it and am considering finding a fake flower to put in it (since I'll be broke in the middle of the city I'm guessing real flowers aren't an option!).
In the auction section of the centre I also found an old faux leather bowling bag which would make the ideal weekend bag. The only problem was it was full of bowling gloves, balls and other gear that I don’t want! Oh well. I’m sure I could find a friend to gift it to (...fob it off on). I bid $35.00 on the bag so fingers crossed!
On Sunday, a couple of my friends turned up spontaneously with dinner plans. I grabbed my jeans and boots and embraced the adventure. We drifted into town and found ourselves in a seaside restaurant, protected from the grey sea monster and drizzle only by a plastic canopy, under which it was surprisingly warm, eating fish and salad and wine. Afterwards I crashed at Georgie’s house, and then walked into town this morning to browse the shops. I bought this mosaic shell keyring for my room key and a wicker ring from a little ethnic shop called Whirled where I can literally spend forty five minutes at a time just rummaging. I love the earthen colours and the jewellery is all very affordable.
I'm an amatuer artist, an adult-in-training and a thrifty student. I love art and photography, recycled junk and de-mystifying the mystery that is mankind by trying to capture it on camera and memory. My blog focuses on the (low budget) student lifestyle, aka my life.